There Was a Time Before Mathematica …

I hated Mathematica so badly when I was in undergrad. It was nearly impossible to use, so struggling with it on top of trying to learn the actual course material earned my hatred of it forever. Plus, sometimes it would just corrupt your notebook with no warning. No way to avoid it. When that happened, too bad. Do your assignment again.

I honestly think that for years afterward, that experience made me passionate about building software people can actually understand how to use. It was just atrocious to me, that people would make such a thing and then expect everyone to just deal with its horribleness.